


youth, part ii

by kuro49



Series: thirty days of writing '18 [15]
Category: DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 00:19:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17233880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuro49/pseuds/kuro49
Summary: If mixtapes were ever a thing for them, Dick might just have to title this one a two-parter with a third in the making.





	youth, part ii

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: youth, part 2. 
> 
> i'm surprised i managed to fix this up before s3 aired lmao it's not really accurate to s2 given wally wasn't brought in until much later but prompter requested for wally & dick & kaldur interactions so here are the OG 3.

 

The first time Dick meets Wally and Kaldur, he meets Kid Flash and Aqualad as Robin.

The Flash and Aquaman are standing in the same room, so is Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and freaking _Superman_. So Dick really can't help it and nobody can really blame him after the fact, because he wasn't entirely paying any attention to Wally or Kaldur when they introduced themselves to him the very first time, to say the least.

“—Robin?”

“Yup," the sound of the 'p' popping off. "That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” He tells them, turning to face them with a grin he haphazardly throws on, “and you’re Aquaboy and Flashkid.”

“Uh.”

Blond hair, dark skin, thick black lines wrapped around his arms, Robin narrows his eyes at that singular sound of uncertainty coming from the boy almost a full head taller than him.

“The other way around.” The red head goes correcting, his freckles almost vibrant.

Dick furrows his brows in confusion at that. “Kind of counter intuitive. So the one with the gills is Flashkid but _you’re_ Aqua–“

“Let us start this again, Robin. My name is Kaldur’ahm, Aqua _lad_.” Kaldur says with emphasis on the lad.

Dick doesn’t exactly go red but he is just a little bit sheepish because _oops_.

“And I’m Kid Flash, but you guys can call me Wally.”

“Robin.” They both look at him like they are expecting more, and Dick blinks behind his domino mask because oh, _oh_. “Superhero.” Dick points at them before pointing back at himself. “Vigilante.”

Neither one of them looks convinced at an explanation like that. It is some kind of compromise at the look in their eyes that Dick tries at all.

“If it makes you feel better, you can call me Rob?”

Kaldur looks like he wants to push, Wally is already reaching out like he wants to physically push him, but he settles for some wholehearted ribbing and a gentle little punt in Robin's arm that has Dick sinking into it with relief.

 

Secrets weigh a ton (or was it a tonne)?

Or does it really matter at all when no one is taking down the measurements (or measuring up)? Dick Grayson has been in this business long enough to know how most people that lead the kind of lives they lead end up. He is pragmatic even if nobody has ever bothered with taking a hot minute to ask: No, he wasn’t ready to grow up, not like this at least.

But he was always going to do it anyway. Dick Grayson is Robin to them, and he always thought he would be okay with just that.

 

Rob carries the mantle of Robin until he becomes Nightwing.

And even then, Nightwing is always just that.

 

They were kids, and it goes without saying that they are _still_ kids despite the heights they've grown into and the lives they now lead.

But Dick has always been very good at tearing off the band-aid in one go.

Secrets weigh a ton, he reminds himself. Or was it a tonne? He never did quite figure that one out even when he's gotten so good at carrying all that weight. He is a kid with some resemblance of a childhood that isn’t just knuckles beaten down to torn skin and flesh because of them. He’s had many good memories despite the extensive injuries that go bone deep and the visceral pain from the death of their friends. 

Almost three years after Wally leaves the team, Nightwing asks him to come back to all this as Dick even if Wally doesn’t know him as _him_ , just yet.

 

“I know I’m asking for a lot here.” Dick tells them, for once without a domino mask or a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. It is his first show of hand. The plan he lays down is simple, sacrifices were always going to be made. “But trust me, we can take down the Light.”

For the first time in never, Dick gives them the undiluted truth.

Tricks after tricks, secrets hidden within another, Dick Grayson is all tricked out. He gives them himself. 

Kaldur looks like Dick has finally confirmed something he has always known, and maybe this is not what he expected Wally to take away from everything that he shares but, well. It really could have gone much worse.

“Your real name’s _Dick_.” Wally repeats after him like he must have misheard. Kaldur doesn’t laugh outright but by the upturn of the corners of his mouth, the two of them have long since learned to hear the amusement bright and loud from the boy who has been their leader since that very first mission down into the sub levels of Cadmus. “Can I go back to calling you Rob?”

Dick laughs and it is still all relief. Dick has absolutely no idea how he managed this far and never slipped up once. Dick can count on one hand the years that have passed but it feels much longer with the three of them finally back at this together. 

From Robin to Rob to Nightwing and now Dick. It feels like they’ve come full circle when Dick reaches out and socks Wally in the arm.

 

The very next day, they stage Kaldur’s betrayal.

 


End file.
